Wrapping Things Up….Thanks, Mrs. V!

Mrs. Vance,

I want to finish this blog by saying, “Thank you so much for making this class one of my favorites!”  I already mentioned to you how much I was dreading this class from day one and I must say that every evil thought that I had was squashed….and yes….at the beginning, I was thinking some very evil things…. But now, I tell everyone that talks about having to take a humanities class that they definitely to take this one with you.    I have truly enjoyed being your student and I appreciate you and your Victorians!

Victorian Monsters

So we have covered quite a few Victorian Monsters and gender division was a big deal in that era.  Men were expected to be a certain way and women were expected to be something even more.  I think on the female side of these elements, the ones that stick out to me are Miss Havisham or Mrs. Joe.  Women in the Victorian Era were expected to be “seen and not heard….or even better…..don’t be seen either”.  Mrs. Joe was definitely more of an “out there” character.  She ruled the roost at her house and a lady boss during the that time was definitely a no-no.  Miss Havisham was definitely not seen but more often heard.  She had such power over people that the women back then were not expected to have.  For the male elements, I’d have to say that Dorian Gray is the main one that comes to my mind.  He was definitely not the typical Victorian man.  He was a little more feminine I guess, concerned with his looks and relationships.

So I hope I’ve gotten my point across and answered this question in the sense of what is was asking.

Best & Worst of HUM 101

I guess the thing that I would have left out of our itinerary would have been The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  This movie did not make any sense to me whatsoever!  In last Thursday’s class, I struggled terribly to stay awake and was hoping that no one saw my head nodding….lol.  I get the gist of most of the characters and I can understand their elements taken from the novels.  But that is it.  I was lost throughout the whole thing.  I didn’t get the plot or anything.  To me, it was just a movie of all these Victorian monsters thrown together haphazardly to go on some nonsense mission.  Maybe I just still don’t know enough about the Victorians to “get it”.

My most favorite aspect of this class has really been the real Victorian monsters.  I love a good mystery and I love to try to figure out what might have possibly gone wrong in their brain to cause their actions.  Burke and Hare, Jack the Ripper, & Amelia Dyer were very easily the most intriguing.  Baby killers, prostitutes, & body snatching…..we are talking about some crazy people here…and I loved it!

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

There are definitely some elements in the characters of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that mimic those of the ones in the novels.  But there are also some differences in most of them.  My favorite characters were The Invisible Man & Allen Quatermaine.  The Invisible Man was very much like his novel character.  I like the fact that he even made jokes about his “clothing situation”.  Quartermaine was funny too.  He had a very sly sense of humor.  Dorian was a little different in that he claims he never looked at his painting but we know after going through the novel that he does….quite obsessively as a matter of fact.  Also, Jekyll & Hyde was portrayed pretty well also.  His animalistic qualities were shown & so was his shared consciousness.  So as usual, Hollywood missed some of the marks but they did get some of them right.

Victorians & Technology

I think that the Victorians were a lot like we are in their passion for technology.  They were always looking for ways to improve things….from the sewage system to their communication.  A new tidbit of information that I learned…..the Victorians were actually the first inventor of the cell phone!  Not the cell phone that we know of today but  a very primitive version of it.  I also think the Victorians would be quite excited about how far our technology has improved today & the future prospects for it.  Not only would they be proud of how far we’ve come with it, but that we have actually used some of the elements that they first gave us.  Everything seems to circle around back to them!

Dracula

Dracula was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be.  I was definitely intrigued with the other characters too….Jonathan Harker, Mina, Lucy, and the brides. As far as Jonathan Harker is concerned, I am really glad that he regained his “manhood”.  I’ve never quite been able to stand a sissy boy.(Or a sissy girl for that matter!) While Dracula was still very much the monster that I thought him to be, there were so many elements to this story that I never knew anything about.  I’ve already answered in my last post about the things that I knew of Dracula before this classroom journey began.  And I can’t honestly even begin to act like I know it all now.  But I have learned some new things & that’s what I wanted!

Dracula & Vampires

OK…..so before this class, I knew absolutely nothing about Dracula or vampires.  I have never watched any of the movies or read any of the books.  Not even the most popular ones that everyone seems to have gotten into.  Of course I’ve heard of Dracula before….my vision of him has always been black cape, fangs with dripping blood, & blah blah blah. But that was it.  And as far as vampires….I only really knew about them drinking blood, being repelled by garlic, and only coming out at night.  So these last few weeks have really been something new for me….and I have actually enjoyed it!  I can see why people get enthralled in them.  They are different.  They are a little taboo maybe.  And we are almost always intrigued by whatever seems to be a little on the weird side.  Maybe it’s time for me to get a little weird 🙂

A Downhill Spiral

I think it is pretty obvious these days that many people these days do not want to deal with life in general.  There are a bazillion different creams and plastic surgery options for those that don’t want to age (which can go horribly wrong….just watch BOTCHED).   People want to blame society or others for their problems instead of owning up to them. And other people believed that they are “owed” things or privileges because of this or that.  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!   This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves and I also believe that this has a lot to do with the problems of society that we have today.  Much like Dorian Gray, people want to be able to do what they want, when they want, and how they want…..but with no consequences.  It’s ridiculous!  But within that, lies a life of destruction.  Not only do people ruin their own lives, but they can also ruin the lives of others along the way.

This is definitely a rampant problem today!

Invisibility

Even though we didn’t read “The Invisible Man” in its entirety, after hitting some of its important parts, I can see that it is truly a very sad story.  Given his life circumstances, I do believe that Griffin always felt invisible & thought that technically being invisible would make him “better” than them.  But of course, when we think we can outdo how God intended us to be, we get into trouble.  I think every person, at some point in their life, has wished or felt that their were invisible.  At this time in my life, if I were invisible, I would most definitely use my ability to spy on my children.  You know…..just to make sure that they are doing what they say they are doing 🙂 But I can’t imagine doing anything evil with an ability like that.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Not having read ahead on our blog assignments, I think I just ironically answered this in my last blog.  The fact that we can all personally relate to what Dr. Jekyll was feeling is what has made Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde one of the most everlasting & analyzed stories in time.  We all have a little bit of Jekyll in us.  And if we can get away with it, most of us would admit we that we have played along with Mr. Hyde at some point or another.  Whether we want to believe it or not, we have each had some sort of sinister desire at some point or another, but did not follow through for one reason or another.  And as we have learned so far about our similarities with the Victorians, we can only assume that they had the same type of desires.  But maybe even a little deeper & darker due to their living situations.